Friday, June 25, 2010

The June 28 2010 issue of ESPN the Magazine had a cool illustration (by Chris Dent) and article interviewing the Dodgers players about their clubhouse music preferences. If you're an insider, you can see the whole article here; if not, here are some snippet highlights:

Bobby Cox has long had a policy: If music is to be played in the Braves' clubhouse, it's going to be played through headphones. Hard to argue with the rules of one of baseball's all-time winningest managers, but when it comes to locker room tunage, he's in the minority -- and, considering his team's recent postseason slump, he might want to reconsider the stance. Just listen to what propelled the Dodgers from playoff outsiders to two straight NLCS appearances. "When I got here in 2008, music wasn't allowed in the clubhouse before games," says LA third baseman Casey Blake. "That changed with Manny. And we started to win." [...]

How do the Dodgers keep harmony in the clubhouse? We'll let them tell you.

Rafael Furcal Shortstop

Manny often plays his own thing down at our end. After games, it's great to hear Miley -- it means we won. If I hear it and it's not after we've won, I don't like it.

Russell Martin Catcher

Whoever gets to the iPod dock first picks the music. Seeing that Matt's locker is next to it, it's usually him. I have no clue how we got started on Miley. My guess is Casey Blake. He has three daughters and probably likes the song more than they do.

Manny Ramirez Leftfield

No comment. [...]

James Loney First base

I'm the best deejay here. My iPod has everything. It goes from John Legend to T.I. to Stevie Wonder. The weight room has a bit of different feel. We'll rock out a little harder there.

Hong-Chih Kuo Pitcher

The music ... is good.

Justin Miller and Jeff Weaver are also cool with Miley's "Party in the USA". Carlos Monasterios wants more hip-hop. Casey Blake wants more Mettalica, which Weaver would also support. And Garret Anderson said he "really [doesn't] care." That's the team spirit, Garret! Enjoy that .193 BA!